Bayer must pay more than $2 billion in suit linking Roundup herbicide to cancer, jury says

A jury in Georgia has ordered Monsanto's parent company to pay more than $2 billion in a suit linking a pesticide to cancer.

According to an Associated Press story by Wyatt Grantham-Philips that recently appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, penalties awarded "to a man who says the company's Roundup weed killer caused his cancer" include $65 million in compensatory damages, $2 billion in punitive damages.

Bayer AG, the agrochemical giant, intends to appeal the decision that sent its stock plunging 8% immediately after the verdict.

That recent verdict is "the latest in a long-running series of court battles Monsanto has faced over its Roundup herbicide," the article says, and "marks one of the the largest verdicts in a Roundup-related case to date."

John Barnes

The piece goes on to say that the plaintiff, John Barnes, filed the suit in 2021, seeking damages because of his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It quotes his attorney, Kyle Findley of Arnold & Itkin LLP, as calling the verdict "an important milestone [because it illuminates] another example of Monsanto's refusal to accept responsibility for poisoning people with this toxic product."

Findley also charged that the Barnes case showed "many years of cover-ups [and] backroom dealings."  

Bayer, a German-based company that acquired Monsanto in 2018 and "has been hit with more than 177,000 lawsuits involving the weed killer and set aside $16 billion to settle cases," according to Wyatt Grantham-Philips, will continue"to stand fully behind the safety" of the Roundup product line.

In the meantime, Bayer, reports an environmental website, The New Lede, is hopeful that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, will soon sign controversial legislation recently passed by state lawmakers to bar people from suing pesticide manufacturers for failing to warn them of health risks, as long as the product labels are approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Opponents say the legislation will rob farmers and others who use pesticides from holding companies accountable in court if their pesticide products cause disease or injury."

Additional information on Monsanto and its herbicides can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers. My other books are MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6 to 10-year-olds.